Paper-bag-feeding apparatus.



PATENTED APR. 5, 1904.

W. PIPPBRT.

PAPER BAG FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 331 130, 1903.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

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No. 756,279. PATENTED APR. 5, 1904. W. PIPPERT. PAPER BAG FEEDINGAPPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED sin. 30, 1903.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H0 MODEL.

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PATENTED APR. 5, 1904.

W. PIPPERT.'

PAPER BAG FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30, 1903.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

N0 MODEL.

PATENTED APR. 5, 1904.

W. PIPPERT. PAPER BAG FEEDING APPARATUS.

I APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30. 1903- I0 IODEL. 5 SHBETSSHBET 4.

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No. 756,279. PATENTED APR. 5, 1904.

W. PIPPERT.

PAPER BAG FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30, 1903 N0 MODEL. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

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Patented April 5, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIS PIPPERT, OF RUMFORD FALL S, MAINE, ASSIGNOR TO CONTINEN- TALPAPER BAG COMPANY, OF RUMFORD FALLS, MAINE, A OORPORA".

TION OF MAINE.

PAPER-BAG-FEEDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,279, dated April1904.

Application filed September 30, 1903. Serial Ila. 175,130. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NILLIS PIPPERT, a citizen of the United States,residing in Rumford Falls, in the county of Oxford and State of 5 Maine,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Bag-FeedingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to and has for an object to provide means to feedpaper bags, which may be in a pile, one at a time to a position to betaken up by or controlled from mechanism which is to or will performsome operation under the same.

It may be desired to print some makers or sellers name, the designationof goods, or a legend upon paper bags which have been made into finishedform. It has been aproblem to deliver the bags to a printing-press at aspeed demanded by the press and at the ex- 2 act time to enable thepress to place the same in position to receive an impression and toplace the bags so that there will be uniformity of the location of theprinting. By my present invention the same is rendered possi- 5 ble andcommercially feasible bya simple mechanical organization. Thebags to beprinted upon may be passed to the press one at a time from a pile or onefrom each of several piles at each feed, according to the capacity 3 ofthe press being fed.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification aform of my invention is illustrated wherein Figure 1 is a rear view inperspective of a portion of a cylinder-press equipped with myimprovement. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion thereof, showing,however, but one tray for holding the bags, whereas Fig. 1 showsaplurality of such trays. Fig. 3 is a perspective 4 of a form of fingerfor engaging and feeding the bags. Fig. I is a detail of a portion of areciprocatory rock-shaft and its rocker-arm. Fig. 5 is a detail end viewof part of the actuating mechanism, showing the finger for feeding thebags in its initial position of engagementwitha bag. Figs. 6 and 7 arelike views of a lesser part of the device, showing the manner the bag isfed to the cylinder and engaged by the gripping device thereof; and Fig.8 is a front View of the device as shown 5 in Fig. 2. The various partsare shown as mounted in and carried upon a frame designated in a generalway by 20 and which is shown as carrying a cylinder 21, mounted upon ashaft 22, 5 5 representing the cylinder of a printing-press, shownherein for the purpose of illustration, as it will be apparent that theinvention may be used in connection with other mechanism requiring to befed with separated bags or like articles.

A number of boxes or trays 28 are shown as supported by the frame of themachine. Each tray is shown as having sides 2a and an end 25, theopposite end of the box being 5 shown as open. In the present instanceeach box or tray is provided with a fioor 26, which comes short of oneend of the box, in the present instance short of the end 26, which endoverhangs the cylinder 21, and the por- 7 tion which is not providedwith a bottom is adjacent to such cylinder, wherebythe pile of bagswhich will be in the tray will be unsupported at that end. Such piles ofbags are designated in a general way by 100.

The bags which this improvement is designed to feed to a press are suchas are folded up and in their manufacture have a seam down one side,which seam is not closed up entirely to its edgethat is, the seam inbeing made up will be gummed nearly to its edge and then overlapped,whereby there will be an opening or pocket down one side of the bag. Twowell-known styles of bags may be used, known commercially as flat bagsand as satchel- 5 bottom bags, and when folded up have a lengthwise seamat about the center of one of. the fiat sides. By arranging the bags inthe trays so that the closed ends, which are designated in Fig. 2 by 27,are laid so they over- 9 hang the floor-where it falls short of meetingthe end 25 and lie with the seam portion downward it will be possible toengage such scam in the interval or opening left by the floor tomanipulate the bag so that it may be presented to the cylinder of thepress.

A reciprocatory rock-shaft 28 is herein illustrated as supported by apair of brackets 29 and 30, carried by the machine-frame, and

which rock-shaft carries an arm 31, which is provided with a split hub32, having a setscrew 33, whereby it may be adjusted upon the arm andmade practically rigid therewith after it has been so adjusted. The arm31 carries a finger- 34, the engaging portion of which in the presentinstance is shown as disposed transversely to the arm 31 and parallelwith the rock-shaft 28. In Figs. 2 and 8 one tray and one finger areshown; but when more trays are used each tray will have its finger orgripping device, as will be apparent. When the parts are assembled andadjusted, the finger 34 will be in a positionto engage one of the seams35 of the bags, in the present instance the bag which is at the bottomof the pile. To enable the finger to engage the bag, the rock-shaft ismaderreciprocatory within its bearings. A spring? 5 is shown to hold itat normal position, and it carries at one end a head or cap 36, swiveledthereon and having a slit end 37, in which a lever 38 is held by a pin39, the lever being fulcrumed at 40 to a standard 41, supported by themachine-frame and carrying at its opposite end a roll 42, which runsupon the cam-face 43 of a driver 44, fast upon a counter-shaft 45, whichhas upon it a pinion 4.6 in mesh with an idle wheel 47 which is in meshwith another idle wheel 48, in turn meshing with a pinion 49, fast uponshaft 22, W1. ereby such counter-shaft is rotated in unison with thecylinder and causes the rock-shaft 28 to reciprocate at each rotationthereof, so that at each rotation of the cvlin' der the finger 34 willbe moved into and out of contact or engagement with the seam of the bag.The rockshaitcarries an actuator or rock-arm 50, which is supportedbetween the hubs 51 of the bracket 30 and has a pair of lugs 52 forengagement with the link 53. The shaft is provided with a groove- 54, inwhich a key 55 of the actuator may slide as the same is reciprocated.After the finger has been reciprocated into position to engage the seamof the bag the shaft will be rocked, whereby the end of the bag engagedwill be bent downward and away from the pile to place it in position tobe taken into control by the press or other mechanism which is intendedto act upon it or perform some work therewith. The link 53 is providedwith a forked end 56, straddling the shaft 45 and carrying a roll 57,running in a cam-groove 58 of a driver 59, fast upon the counter-shaft45, whereby the rocking of the shaft is also controlled from the shaftof the cylinder and caused to rock the shaft and move the finger 34 inunison with the shaft of the cylinder or at a redetermined sta e in itsrevolution.

In the present instance the cylinder is shown as having a cut-awayportion or chamber 60, in which the hub 61 of a grasping finger orgripper 62 is mounted. The grasping-finger in the present instance isshown as curved and having an end 63 organized to rest upon theperiphery 64 of the cylinder just adjacent to the chamber 60. An arm 65is shown as fast to the hub 61 and carrying a roll 66 to run upon atrack 67, supported on the frame or the machine and ending abruptly at68, so that upon the roll 66 reaching such end the gripper will actresponsive to a spring 69 and engage the edge of the bag which has beenseparated from the pile. The parts are so organized that after the baghas been engaged by thefinqer 34 the gripper 62 will be permitted topass under the bag, as represented in tl e dotted-line position of suchgripper in 'Fig. 6', to the full-line position of such figure, when theend of the bag engaged by the finger will be quickly brought to thedotted-line position of such bag in said figure,-the dotted line 70indicating the path of movement of the finger 34 and the dotted line 71indicating the movement of the end of thebag being removed from thetray, after which the roll 66 will run down off the end 68 of the trackand the gripper will act quickly to seize the bag,

as seen in Fig. 7, the gripper traveling in the path indicated by thedotted line 72, which line is seen to intersect the line 71 and pressthebag against the perimeter of the cylinder. The return excursion ofreciprocation of the finger will release it from the bag, whereuponfurther rotation of the cylinder will draw the bag from the pile, thefront end 25 of the tray retaining the other bags from movement withthebag drawn from the pile. After the withdrawal of the bag the finger 34will be lifted again into its normal position, Where upon again beingstarted on an excursion of reciprocatlon it will engage the neXt bag,

which will then be on the bottom of the pile. The press may be equippedwith one or more trays, according as its capacity will require. In thepresent instance there are shown three trays in Fig. 1, two traysrepresented as containing flat bags, and one tray as contain- Thebag-actuating means may be controlled in any manner desired; but inpractice it will be found expedient in many instances to drive themechanism from a train of gears or other connecting medium from thecylinder of a press or from some driving mechanism which-controls thesame.

Although the invention is shown as em-- ployed in connection with aprinting-press, it

will be obvious that any other mechanism which will require to have fedto it paper bags may be used in connection with this invention, theinvention being merely to select a bag from a series of bags andremoveor partially remove the same and place it in a position to comeinto the control of mechanism, which it is desired to further act uponthe bag, and although bags are specifically referred to yet it will beapparent that any material possessing the characteristics essential toaworking of this device may be fed thereby.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. In an apparatus for feedingpaper bags which when folded present a lengthwise seam on one side, thecombination of a tray to hold the bags and having a floor coming shortof one end; an arm; means to reciprocate the arm transversely of theline of such seam and to oscillate the arm upon a plane parallel withthe line of such seam, and a finger on said arm adapted upon itsexcursion of reciprocation to engage said seam of one of the bagsadjacent to its bottom when such bag is in the tray with its bottomoverhanging the floor thereof, upon the excursion of oscillation toseparate the engaged end of such bag from the pile, upon the returnexcursion of reciprocation to release the bag, and upon the returnexcursion of oscillation to assume its normal position.

2. In apparatus for feeding paper bags one at a time from a pile of suchbags, the combination with means to support the pile except at one end,of a finger to engage the lowermost bag adjacent to its unsupported end;a reciprocatory rock-shaft; an arm fast thereon to carry the finger;means to reciprocate the shaft to engage the finger with the bag, andmeans to rock the shaft to bend the engaged end of the bag from thepile.

3.' In apparatus for feeding paper bags one at a time from a pile ofsuch bags to a printing-press, the combination with means to support thepile except at one end, of a finger to engage the lowermost bag adjacentto its unsupported end; a reciprocatory rock-shaft; an arm fast thereonto carry the finger; means controlled by the press to reciprocate theshaft to engage the finger with the bag, and means controlled by thepress to rock the shaft to bend the engaged end of the bag from thepile.

L. In apparatus for feeding paper bags one atatime from a pile of suchbags to a printingpress having capacity to receive a bag at certainintervals, the combination with means to support the pile except at oneend, of means to grasp the seam of the lowermost bag at its unsupportedend; a reciprocatory rock-shaft; an arm fast thereon to carry thegrasping means; means controlled by the press to reciprocate the shaftto cause said means to grasp the bag; and means controlled by the pressto rock the shaft at intervals timed by its capacity for feed to bendthe grasped bag from the pile of bags.

5. In apparatus for feeding paper bags one of such bags from each ofseveral piles of bags at each feed to a printing-press having capacityto receive such a series of bags at certain intervals, the combinationwith means to support a number of piles of bags and to expose and leaveunsupported the end of the lowermost bag in each pile, of means to graspthe seam of thelowermost bag of each pile at its unsupported end; areciprocatory rock-shaft; arms fast thereon to carry the grasping means;means controlled by the press to reciprocate the shaft to cause saidmeans to grasp the bags, and means controlled by the press to rock theshaft at intervals timed by its capacity for feed to bend the graspedbags from the piles of bags.

6. In apparatus for feeding paper bags one of such bags from each ofseveral piles of bags at each feed to a printing-press having capacityto receive such a series of bags at certain intervals, the combinationwith means to support a number of piles of bags and to expose and leaveunsupported the end of the lowermost bag in each pile, of fingers toengage the seams of the lowermost bags adjacent to the unsupported ends,a reciprocatory rock-shaft by which such fingers are'carried to movesaid fingers to engage such seams, means to reciprocate the shaft, andmeans to rock the shaft and fingers and bend the engaged bags wherebysuch ends are moved from their positions in the piles, and the otherportions of the engaged bags retain their original positions therein.

7 In apparatus for feeding paper bags one at a time from a pile of suchbags, the combination with means to support the pile except at one end,of a finger to engage the seam of the lowermost bag adjacent to itsunsupported end; a reciprocatory rock-shaft; an arm fast thereon tocarry the finger; means to reciprocate the shaft to engage the fingerwith the seam of such bag, and means to rock the shaft to shift thefinger and bend the end of the bag engaged by its seam from the pile.

8. In apparatus for feeding paper-bags one at a time from a pile of suchbags to a printing-press, the combination with means to support the pileexcept at one end, of a finger to engage the lowermost bag adjacent toits unsupported end; a reciprocatory rock-shaft; an arm fast thereon tocarry the finger; means controlled by the press to reciprocate the shaftto engage the finger with the bag, and means controlled by the press torock the shaft to bend the engaged end of the bag from the pile andshift the same forwardly.

9. In apparatus for feeding paper-bags one at a time from a pile of suchbags to a printing-press having a gripper to receive a bag at certainintervals, the combination with means to support the pile except at oneend, of means to grasp the seam of the lowermost bag at its unsupportedend; a reciprocatory rock-shaft; an arm fast thereon to carry thegrasping means; means controlled by the press to reciprocate the shaftto cause said means to grasp the bag; and means controlled by the pressto rock the shaft at intervals timed by its capacity for feed to bendthe grasped bag from the pile of bags and shift the same forwardly intothe grasp of the gripper.

10. In an apparatus to feed from a pile of paper bags, Which Whenfolded, present a seam open at one side, the combination of a supportfor a pile of the bags, a finger to engage the seam of the bagoverhanging the sup- 7 port, a rock-shaft to carry the finger, means toreciprocate the shaft to cause the finger to engage the seams, means torock the shaft to cause the fingers to bend the overhanging portion ofthe bag aWay from the other bags in the pile and into position to begrasped by mechanism to be fed thereby, and to permit transversely ofthe bag resting upon and overhanging the support to cause the same toengage the seam of such bags,-and means controlled in timing with these1z1ng means to transverselyshift said finger to shift the en-' gagedportion of the bag into position to be seized by the seizing means.

12. In apparatus to feed paper-bags to a printing-press having means toseize the fed bags at predetermined intervals, the combination of meansto hold a number of bags, and a reciprocatory and oscillatory fingercontrolled by the printing-press to seize the loW- ermost bag adjacentto one of its ends and bend the engaged bag, whereby such end will movefrom its position in the holder, the rest of the bag retain, itsoriginalposition therein and the engaged end shift into the reach of theseizing means; means to reciprocate the finger, and to cause it to seizethe bag, and means to subsequently oscillate the finger to cause it tobend the bag. I

WILLIS PIPPERT.

Witnesses: i

CHAS. L. BROWN, JOHN P. SHEPHERD.

